


At Your Doorstep

by Kaddi



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Canon Compliant, M/M, POV: Roxas, Unversed, and you probably guessed it: Minecraft, mentioned sea salt family, where everyone gets to chill having to deal with normal people problems like. living, with a question mark at the end, you can imagine this as post-canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:29:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28311648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaddi/pseuds/Kaddi
Summary: Noticing his surprised stare and lack of a comeback, Vanitas blinked, a scowl reappearing on his face. But it was too late for the Flood in his hand, which disappeared with a rattling snarl.The resulting silence was so full of awkwardness that Roxas almost expected a new Unversed to manifest and take the Flood's place.
Relationships: Vanitas & Roxas (Kingdom Hearts), Vanitas/Roxas (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 26





	At Your Doorstep

**Author's Note:**

  * For [starmelee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/starmelee/gifts).



> Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!  
> I wrote a gift for my dear friend <3 I love you so much!! this makes the 2nd Christmas we get to spend together, and I'm incredibly thankful for that. I've even played BBS, finally, so I could feel valid writing Vanitas hehe
> 
> this fic loosely continues from last year's fic, [Midnight's Reprieve](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21934063), but you don't need to have read it to enjoy this one c:  
> there is a chat part in the fic (small spoiler), and i've tried to put the actual emojis in there but if it didn't work you'll. have to please imagine them adhksjhadkj i used the discord names as their description, so they should be easy to find (or imagine)

A couple of months had passed since Roxas started living on his own. The apartment was finally showing signs of being his, with the walls now boasting an array of polaroids and art. The amount of blankets had nearly doubled since he first moved in, turning his double bed – which he insisted on having – into something more resembling a nest.

When the time had come to leave the Mysterious Tower, Axel suggested that they – meaning Axel himself, Roxas, Xion, and Isa – could live together in Twilight Town. Nobody opposed the idea. In Roxas' mind, it was a done deal that Axel and Isa would be living together – all that time spent browsing home-building catalogues together kind of clued him in.

He hadn't given much thought to his own arrangement, nor Xion's, but Axel was their friend and Isa was trying to be one. So when the suggestion was presented to him, he thought that this was how their happy ending was supposed to be.

But it didn't make Roxas happy. Adjusting to having a single roof over their heads was a continuous process, one that left him uneasy. He had convinced himself that the uneasiness would fade over time; They would all learn to live together in a house that wasn't magic, where there were normal chores and tasks to be done.

At the start, it seemed to work. Everyone settled into their daily rhythms, going from eternal night to eternal sunset. But being _home_ became an exercise in avoidance the longer he lived there. He started calculating who would be where when, and it grew so taxing that when he wasn't at a friend's place, he stayed in his room.

Admittedly, they had lived together at the Tower and during their shared time in the Organization (though it was debatable how much that counted as living) without much trouble, yet in this new, normal home he grew so easily irritable. Suddenly, something as mundane as a person's eating habits was enough to upset him. He didn't like being angry, he didn't like snapping at a friend over spilled milk when they hadn't done anything wrong.

He couldn't quite explain the change himself, only that maybe he hadn't become as forgiving as everyone expected. There were only so many rooms and hallways in that small house, compared to the ever-changing Tower. Sometimes he just couldn't put up with the thought that Axel was in the same house as him, and sometimes Isa's voice became so grating that he couldn't stand it.

Emotions still weren't easy. Reconciling them even less so.

He found a way out on the day that Hayner moved out of his home and held a sleepover at his new place. Even though the space was definitely _not_ meant for half a dozen people, being around them was so _easy_. Roxas easily settled into the comfort there, laughing, knowing that if he had to stay more than a couple days there he would start to hate it.

Hayner hadn't actually planned anything, so they just sat and talked or watched videos together. Eventually, as sleepovers often went, conversation dimmed, allowing more vulnerable thoughts to claw their way to the forefront. Roxas' thoughts had drifted to his time living in the fake Twilight Town made of data. Though he couldn't remember much, and he doubted that DiZ had spent much care constructing his home life, he knew he had been living on his own then. (It was debatable how much _that_ counted as living, too). He, guiltily, thought of it fondly.

Over the next couple weeks, the idea of moving out stayed in the back of his mind. He kept in touch with Hayner, of course, asking him how he was settling into life by himself.

Hayner laughed often, and confessed that he still relied on his parents for a lot of things. Sometimes, he went back and stayed the weekend there. He talked about how weird everything was. But he also sounded much happier, and as weeks turned to months, the desire to have what his friend had burned stronger in Roxas' mind, despite his attempts to make _this_ home work.

Thus, one day, he took Isa – who was the most responsible of their little "family" – to the side and quietly told him that he no longer wanted to live together. Isa listened to this with stoic acceptance. His gaze remained even throughout, and he did not demand or even ask for an explanation. He only asked if Roxas had told the others yet. Roxas hadn't, so the next day, he broke the news of his decision to Xion and Axel.

What followed was a lot of hassle to get him his own place, including harassing DiZ into paying for it, as their own funds were at a low due to the house expenses. Besides, it was the least that the old man owed him.

A little over a month later, Roxas had moved into his new, crappy apartment, and held his own sleepover. It was just as unplanned as Hayner's had been, and just as wonderful.

The apartment was a downgrade from the house, sure: A short, perpetually cold hallway connected the front door to the bathroom and the living room. The bathroom was just as chilly and so tiny that not even he alone fit into it quite comfortably. The ventilation consisted of what was basically a hole in the wall. Of course, there was no window. The living room, meanwhile, had a balcony facing east, which meant he got plenty of sunlight. The kitchen integrated into the room was small enough that it bordered on unusable. Roxas still made a point to cook, but he also looked forward to Sora's visits. They secured him a couple properly-made meals that landed right in the freezer.

In spite of its shortcomings, Roxas loved it. He followed his own biorhythm, chose his own food and snacks, ate them when he wanted, cleaned how he wanted, was alone how he wanted. It was _freedom_.

He still saw his friends often. Of course, that included Xion, Axel, and Isa. Just because he decided not to live with them anymore didn't mean that he liked them any less. He sometimes even returned to the house to stay a couple days, and he had never felt this happy there before.

Today, though, was a lazy day he intended to spend all on his own in the comfort of his apartment. Rain fell in drumming patterns from the darkened sky; There was so much of it that Roxas couldn't see much of anything outside. Usually around this time people would be strolling down the streets on their way downtown or to one of the town's parks. When Roxas peered down from his window a couple floors above ground, there was nobody there to see. It was freezing, too, to round out the cliché bad mood weather. Not even in the video game he was playing could he escape from it, because it was storming there, too. So he had turned it off and now looked around his apartment for something to do that wasn't napping.

A knock came from his door then. Or a thud, rather, the singular sound louder than the pitter-patter of the rain on his window. Roxas frowned. He wasn't expecting any visitors or packages today, and he sincerely doubted any of his friends would brave the weather to swing by for an unannounced visit. Not even Sora was this needy, especially considering Roxas had received a selfie of him and Riku just this morning. He quickly checked his phone just in case he did get a message, but there was none.

Another knock, this one lighter. By then, he was halfway to the front door with worry at his heel. Was it something serious? Something so urgent that they didn't have time to shoot him a message?

A quick step into the bathroom later he had grabbed a towel and stubbed his toe on the stepladder in the hallway in the process. Hissing in pain, he hoped for the person on the other side of the door that they had a good reason.

Vanitas didn't. Not really, Roxas thought, when he opened the door and Vanitas stood there, sopping wet. There was no sense of urgency to his rattled frame or the shivers hunting through his skin. A small puddle had formed by his feet, meaning he must have waited before knocking.

However, something was there to undermine Roxas' first assumption. Wound around Vanitas' leg was a Hareraiser as black as his pants, unnerving red eyes locked onto Roxas. Further up, something was crawling within the pocket of his hoodie. Past Vanitas' gleaming, tired eyes, leaves poked out of his collar, narrow and sharp.

He couldn't remember the last time Vanitas had created Unversed. It wasn't a topic they often spoke about. There was only one time he had witnessed their creation first hand; As far as both of them were concerned, that could gladly be the last.

Neither of them spoke for a moment, even after Roxas had taken in the situation. Vanitas glared at him, his jaw clenched. His eyes were a bit red; Roxas thought that some of the wet tracks on his face weren't from the rain. He was still soaked, the puddle by his feet only getting bigger. Roxas had to do something to ease the tension of this unwitting stalemate.

So he held out the towel to Vanitas, who narrowed his eyes but accepted it at his insistence. Small victories. Roxas shrugged, and, unsure on how to proceed, invited Vanitas in.

"Aren't you supposed to ask what I'm doing here?" Vanitas bit out. His voice shook, barely held together with loose stitches. A threat wove into this question that Roxas did not care about.

"That can wait," Roxas answered, deciding that getting Vanitas on dry land had priority. Even he was starting to get cold out here in the staircase. "Now get in."

Vanitas' eyes widened just a bit, changing his face into a more neutral expression. His threat was hollow, it seemed, because he trudged inside after Roxas. While Roxas closed the front door and went into the bathroom to get another towel, Vanitas toed off his heavy shoes. Two Unversed poked their heads out as Vanitas took off his real combat boots, as soaked as the rest of him. Both pairs of shoes found their place next to Roxas' sneakers before they headed into the living room together.

"The door needs some force to close properly," Roxas said. "Don't bother with the door handle, just push it shut." Vanitas did so with little reservation.

The heater in the living room ran steadily, its low hum as comforting as the heat it provided. Already, Vanitas’ skin began to pinken in the room's cozy warmth, though his shivers did not stop quite yet.

As Vanitas looked around the room, Roxas almost felt embarrassed at the state of it. Some clothes lay scattered around, some of them already worn, some of them washed. None of them were on the clothesline, which was blocking the way to the balcony (but considering the weather he hadn't thought it necessary to put it away yet). Some other odds and ends were out of place, and he could stand to dust sometime. However, there was nothing much he could do about it now before Vanitas got settled in – assuming he would even be staying for long.

With that in mind, he picked out some dry clothes and traded them for Vanitas' now wet towel.

"I'm not doing your laundry," Vanitas said, frowning. A dark blue Unversed-snout peeked out of his sleeve to inspect the clothes in his grasp.

"They're for you to wear, so you don't get a cold. Put yours on the clothesline when you've changed," Roxas said and put down the extra towel under it.

"I'll never change," Vanitas muttered.

Roxas rolled his eyes and left him to his devices, turning instead towards his tiny kitchen. Vanitas' arrival reminded him that he should get some warm food into him. Originally, he had planned on reheating some soup Sora left him and his stomach growled at the thought. But it was only a single portion, not enough for both him and Vanitas. No way would he let his guest go hungry.

A light touch to his leg startled him. The Hareraiser curled around it, looking up at him with big, sad eyes. He made a surprised noise in the back of his throat and carefully reached down to give it a pat on its head. It immediately pushed back into his hand, preening under his touch. Like that it looked... cute.

"Stop touching that," Vanitas snapped.

Roxas' eyes flicked to him. He stood with his back to the kitchen, his shoulders raised to his ears. With that much tension running through his body, Roxas could easily snap him in two. At the involuntary thought, he unconsciously tightened his hand in the Hareraiser's fur. Vanitas stiffened more, if possible. The air around them turned thick.

Forcibly, Roxas unclenched his hand. He straightened. The Unversed clung tighter to his leg at the loss of his touch. Yet as sorry as he felt for it, upsetting Vanitas wasn't his goal. It was the opposite.

With a deep breath, he steered his thoughts back to dinner. If soup was out, he needed to think of another comfort food. Vanitas looked like he could use some of that. As he checked the fridge, he spotted the egg carton. Pancakes were as comforting as you could get without soup, right? They weren't terribly difficult to make, either.

He glanced at Hareraiser. Then at Vanitas, who had begun hanging up his wet clothes, to involve him in the decision. However, the question fixed to his tongue tumbled back down his throat when he saw that Vanitas had not changed out of his hoodie. Suddenly, he didn't care about not upsetting him.

"Leave me be," Vanitas said roughly.

"I haven't said anything."

" _Yet_."

"If you know, then you should have taken off the hoodie."

A line of raindrops marked the way Vanitas had taken and would cause water damage to the laminate.

"I can't take this hoodie off," Vanitas said.

Roxas replied, "Sure you can."

"Do you have a death wish?"

"Not currently, no."

"Then you should know better than to uproot a Mandrake."

Oh, that. Roxas had already forgotten about the leaves poking out. At least now he knew what that Unversed was called. Vanitas didn't like showing his Unversed to others, so it figured there were kinds that Roxas had not seen before. Still, that didn't mean he would give up.

"If you're not going to take it off, go sit by the heater. I'm not taking care of your ass if you get sick."

Vanitas raised an eyebrow. "I was under the impression that you like bossing others around. It's what you have been doing since I got here."

Roxas scowled. All he had wanted to do was provide structure because he knew how out of place _he_ felt. Something was clearly wrong to have Vanitas turn up on his doorstep, desolate as he looked.

"I care about you," he snapped. "And that includes not wanting you to get sick. But fine, be that way."

The haughty smugness slipped from Vanitas' face, replaced by a snarl. Usually another teasing comment would follow. However, Roxas sharply turned away, beginning to rummage for ingredients with forceful and stilted movements, and Vanitas said nothing. A small voice in his head wondered if he should apologize for snapping. Roxas hushed it; Vanitas was more or less always like this, depending on how much sleep he got. The snark was normally gone by day three. Roxas slammed the flour package on the counter. One thing less to worry about, then.

What was Vanitas even doing here? He got sporadic updates and complaints from Ventus – some of them about the sulking shadow now sitting by the heater – but beyond that they've had little contact ever since they started living in different worlds. Vanitas rarely used his phone, and most of Roxas' messages had gone unanswered. He wouldn't have called the two of them _close_ , even before they went separate ways. Not enough that, if there was a fight or trouble at home, Vanitas would come here of all places.

How did he find him, anyway?

Without turning around he asked Vanitas this.

"One of your friends told me. He said that I look like I'd be your friend." Vanitas stressed the word _friend_ like he expected Roxas to do something with it. Only Roxas didn't know what. (What he did know, however, was that he would have to chew out the group chat later to find out who gave out his address).

Silence settled over them while Roxas thought, Vanitas obviously not in a hurry to continue the conversation. To keep his hands busy, Roxas continued measuring and mixing ingredients.

_Were_ they friends if Roxas didn't even consider them close?

While they were living at the Tower, getting used to this chance at life with all the restraints plus formalities that came with it, he had crashed in Vanitas' room once. Nightmares weren't unusual, and Roxas had been no stranger to sleepless nights, yet on that day he had found his way to Vanitas. Roxas managed to sleep after that. Since then, it had become somewhat of a habit to seek sanctuary with the other. Sleep was such a precious good that it was safest with someone best acquainted with its loss.

It was easier together. Neither of them felt guilty about bothering the other – they always got it paid back in teasing remarks anyway. In the long run this habit also saved them a lot of trouble. Once Roxas stopped having to excuse himself due to sleep loss, the lectures from the others stopped as well.

Still, they had never really talked about this thing between them. Even as Xion commented on their bond, a small but genuine smile on their face that made Roxas blush, they never quite dragged said bond into the light. During the day, Vanitas was caught between Ventus's and Roxas' orbits – straying from one to the other, never quite breaking out of either. Sometimes Roxas worried it would turn into a gravitational slingshot. Nonetheless, Vanitas became another part of their little galaxy, as their other friends gradually accepted his presence – truly accepted it instead of just tolerating it, despite the complex feelings (resentment one of them) that lingered for some of them.

So... if he and Vanitas weren't friends outright, they were, at least, friendly acquaintances.

A deafening crack shook him out of his thoughts and he stared at his hands that were splattered with egg yolk. Apparently he had managed to smash the egg as he was trying to crack it. Cracked he had it, but at the cost of a huge mess. This part of cooking had never been his strength but that it had to happen _now_... At least, he thought as he deposited the egg remnants into the sink, not a lot of the eggshell had fallen into the bowl.

Predictably, his failure did not go unnoticed. A Flood, about the size of a cat, slithered up the counter. A moment later, Vanitas appeared at Roxas' side, one clawed hand reaching for the Unversed. Once he had it in his careful grasp, his eyes naturally fell to the mess Roxas had made. A smirk spread on his face.

"Not so careful now, are we?" he said. The smirk even crinkled his eyes, betraying the mirth Vanitas liked to keep hidden.

Roxas stopped short, his breath caught in his throat. All the lingering irritation – poof! - vanished suddenly. Noticing his surprised stare and lack of a comeback, Vanitas blinked, a scowl reappearing on his face. But it was too late for the Flood in his hand, which disappeared with a rattling snarl.

The resulting silence was so full of awkwardness that Roxas almost expected a new Unversed would manifest and take the Flood's place. No such thing happened, though. Instead, Vanitas ordered him to hurry up and salvage what he could of the pancake batter already. Roxas laughed, high-pitched and short, but did as he was told. Meanwhile, Vanitas got out an extra bowl to crack the remaining eggs into, no longer trusting Roxas to do it.

The Hareraiser wrapped its other ear around Vanitas' leg, hanging between them with as close to contentment as the little creature could get.

Roxas liked Vanitas, probably. Sometimes he wasn't sure if he really liked people. But he had to, otherwise he wouldn't have let him in and he wouldn't be making pancakes for him. He wouldn't put up with his irritation with a roll of his eyes. After all, Roxas had no problem letting people know when he _didn't_ like them.

So, they were friendly acquaintances. Did he want... more? For them to be friends? Questioning it this directly made him feel silly, but he pushed through. Just because Sora had no problem befriending others and proudly declaring said friendship did not mean Roxas had to be the same. Friendship had always been complicated from the moment he had made his first friend while he lacked a heart.

Mentally, he went through the list of who he considered to be his friends, hoping for a clue. He faltered when he reached Hayner, Pence, and Olette. Their friendship had been off to a very rocky start. Thanks to the data versions of them, becoming friends with the _real_ them proved to be difficult. Roxas knew them better than he should, and yet only had a superficial understanding of them. That was the nature of the data in the virtual Twilight Town. At the same time, they did not know him at all. All they had was that fake (real?) photo of all four of them together. And whatever Sora had told them. Whatever had made them determined to help him come back while he was just a fragment of Sora's stupidly big heart.

He huffed, ignoring Vanitas' curious glance.

Vanitas was a special case. Nothing had forced them together. Circumstance brought him and his former Organization friends together. His connection to Naminé, or Ventus, or his friends from the Destiny Islands were forged by someone else. Even when it came to Hayner, Pence, and Olette, he couldn't say for sure that they would have become friends if it weren't for some outside influence. Of course, he wouldn't deny their combined effort to stay together. They were still _his_ friends, friends that he wanted; This outside influence didn't create the friendships for him. He chose to strengthen these relationships.

But he had nothing of that sort with Vanitas. He could have easily ignored him at the Tower, where they had first truly met. He could have turned his back to Vanitas' room when the Tower showed it to him – _offered_ it but did not _force_ it on him. Yet he hadn't.

Sure, Vanitas could be hard to be around sometimes. His personality was not pleasant or outgoing. His favourite pastime seemed to be riling people up. He poked at weaknesses and insecurities almost as if for fun. But he no longer dug his claws into weak spots with the intent to hurt. It was... a way for him to connect, Roxas supposed. Roxas had no qualms baring his teeth if he went too far, so it worked out.

There had been one fight between them early on that went farther than trading verbal blows. When Roxas' soul had been halfway to the clouds, as it sometimes was, Vanitas' words cut right through the string he was desperately tugging at to get it back. He couldn't remember what was said. But he remembered that he had lunged at him in retaliation, words turning to punches, neither of them relenting until they were physically pulled apart.

It took a while to reconcile after that. But they did. And when Vanitas told him to _shut it_ , _idiot_ as Roxas tried to halfheartedly apologize, Roxas had forgiven him. He still didn't know what triggered him then, but he told Vanitas to not do it again.

The taunts and digs were not stopped by that, of course. Roxas would miss them. However, that didn't mean that both of them hadn't learned from that encounter so that it never had a repeat.

So, perhaps they weren't friends (not yet?), but he would like them to be.

"Vanitas," he began, encouraged by the Hareraiser still around their legs. "Let's be friends."

Vanitas, who had just gathered all the eggshells, crashed them in his trembling fists. He stared, wide-eyed, at nothing. "That's not a good idea."

Roxas shrugged. "Can't say I'm famous for them. Consider the pancakes proof of that."

Vanitas barked a laugh that sounded like it was torn from his throat. He slowly let go of the crushed shells, sucking in a breath as he did so. "No kidding."

Roxas snorted. This was as close as Vanitas would let himself get to accepting the offer of friendship. That was fine. Words weren't always needed.

He grabbed the bowl from Vanitas and dumped the eggs into the main bowl. They swapped places so Vanitas could wash his hands in the small sink. While he did so, he watched Roxas stir with a careful gaze, like he didn't trust Roxas to do that, either. Once he had dried his hands, Roxas instructed him with quiet words to get the pan, then how to work the stove. There was some hushed squabble as they moved around each other in the kitchenette accompanied by a snide remark about the state of said kitchenette that Roxas snickered at. In the end, they managed to get the pan ready for cooking and Vanitas drew back to allow Roxas to start.

In hindsight he should have known that there was no way this would go off without a hitch.

Roxas' joints didn't always want to listen to his desired power output, which resulted in him overshooting at times. Be it skateboarding, where his legs catapulted him just that bit too far, or writing, where he broke more than one pen. "A possible drawback of Replica bodies. Fine motor skills may need to be relearned," Vexen had said, but it was ridiculous that everyone else coped with this a lot better than he did. It was true that it was happening less the longer he lived, but it was still inconvenient.

Like now, when he expertly slid the spatula under the pancake to flip it, and when he did so, _launched_ it upwards so it landed with a disgusting splat on the wall. Vanitas nearly laughed himself sick when it happened, and Roxas himself could do little but stare in disbelief. Embarrassment happily ignited his face, not even needing to hear whatever Vanitas tried to screech out between laughs.

The universe was out to get him today. Or it was out to get Vanitas some amusement on this dreary day. He hoped it was happy.

When Vanitas began to choke, he got him a glass of water and went to the rescue of his pancake. He scrubbed it off the wall and deposited it back into the pan. But looking at the wonky pancake made him angry, so he took to it with his spatula and tore it up into little pieces.

"Death to your creation?" Vanitas questioned, his voice raspy. His chest still stuttered with the remnant of laughter.

Roxas shook his head. "This is a thing," he said with as much confidence as he could muster. "Ask Sora about it," he added, trying to make himself more believable.

Vanitas hated using his phone. Nobody knew whose contact information he had saved at all, so there was little risk of him putting Roxas' claim to the test.

"Oh? Surely you will do the same to the rest of them, then."

Roxas gritted his teeth. He had looked forward to the pancakes, but he was _not_ about to give in this easily. Vanity, or something. To prove himself, he fished out a plate and scooped the pancake scraps onto it.

"I will do you one better," he said. "And show you how it's done for real."

And thus he dumped the rest of the batter that he had worked so hard to salvage into the pan, all at once. His comfort was that Vanitas wouldn't get to enjoy a proper pancake, either.

A little bit later, Vanitas shook the Hareraiser off his leg. To be honest, Roxas had forgotten its presence until it squeaked and twirled around his own leg. Now that he was free, he pulled up an extra chair and set their food at the "dinner" table. Like everything else except for his bed, its size was offending. Their knees knocked together under the table.

Roxas sifted a generous helping of powdered sugar on his treat before checking his until-now forgotten phone. His friends were never quiet for long, and he still had one question burning in the back of his mind.

Ventus had sent him a message, asking him if he knew where Vanitas was. Roxas chanced a glance at Vanitas while he plopped a piece of pancake into his mouth. The bastard was cracking open the jar of applesauce Roxas had wanted to save for dessert. Deciding against spilling the news just yet, Roxas flicked through his group chats. There was really only one group that came into question, really.

**Roxas:** Alright, which one of you doxxed me

Several people in the Twilight Town chat began typing immediately, as if they had been lying in wait for his question. An array of laughter and eye emojis followed, until Pence deigned to be the voice of reason.

**Pence:** <ou know what doxxing is???

Or so he had thought. Betrayed, Roxas gnawed at his lip and typed his reply.

**Roxas:** u lectured me on internet safety, remember

**Roxas:** now confess

**Xion:** How do you know? :O

**Olette:**

**Roxas:** Vanitas is in my house

**Olette:** Vanitatum Vanitas??

**Axel:** he probabyl means the retgular one

The chat exploded, as Hayner, Pence, and Olette got more and more confused about who Vanitas was while Axel and Xion gave them increasingly useless descriptions. Someone even posted a wikipedia link.

He looked up at Vanitas again and took another bite of his food. When he checked his phone, his friends seemed to have reached a conclusion.

**Axel:** SEND A PHOTOT

**Xion:** PHOTO

**Pence:** PHOTO

**Hayner:** PHOTO

**Roxas:** no

**Olette:** a photo for the poor?

**Pence:** please!

Roxas rolled his eyes.

**Roxas:** first you little shits

**Roxas:** tell me how he found out where i live

**Axel:** he wisheth to strike a bargain?

**Olette:** bargain?

**Xion:** bargain?

**Pence:** so he shall strike it!

**Hayner:** STRIKE

**Roxas:** i wish you'd go back to using owo

He actually, genuinely wanted to scream. Such a simple question, and they had to go and make it so difficult. He was about to type a scathing reply when Isa's name popped up. It made him freeze, his thumbs hovering over the keyboard. Isa only participated about once in a full moon. But after a few seconds, the "Isa is typing..." pop-up disappeared without a message clogging up their chat.

**Axel:** ah, Isa, ever the voice of reason

**Axel:** look, Rox, you give us what we want, and we will give you waht YOU want

**Hayner:** i still don't know who this dude is

**Olette:** ISA????

**Hayner:** yeah who is that

**Olette:** oh my god.

**Roxas:** are you seriously making me take a photo of him

**Roxas:** how many black-haired people with red eyes do you even know

**Xion:** I thought they were "red with golden swirls"? c:

**Axel:**

**Pence:** it'll be easier if you do, Roxas 

**Roxas:** i'm being pitied by a villain

**Roxas:** i hate all of you

Roxas knew that it would be easier if he gave his friends what they wanted. They were so horribly stubborn when it came to silly stuff like this. Once the magic word "photo" dropped, he knew he'd have to obey their request or live in ignorance. He held back from groaning to not attract Vanitas's attention. Instead, he stole yet another look at him to gauge his emotional state.

Right now, Vanitas was meticulously sifting powdered sugar on his pancake scraps. His face had softened considerably, only a faint frown visible in his concentration. Before he could think too much about it, Roxas took a photo of him as subtly as he could. He opened the chat window again and hovered, perhaps for too long, over the message preview before he backed out. Moving over to the photo editor, he slapped a big sticker over Vanitas's face so that only his spiky hair and his hands were visible. That would have to do as a compromise. He released the edited photo into the waiting claws of his friends.

**Xion:** <3

**Axel:** there you go what a lad

**Pence:** Roxas is hogging all these cute friends 

**Olette:** wait... are you guys seeing what i'm seeing?

**Axel:** owo

Then Olette posted a zoomed in crop of the pancakes, and hell broke loose as his friends practically fell over themselves to seize the opportunity to make fun of him. Xion loudly proclaimed that they so, so dearly missed Roxas' cooking, and Axel agreed solemnly that nowadays his _goodest friend_ never spared the _effort_ to make pancakes for him. Pence egged them on by reacting absolutely incredulous. Against his best attempts, Roxas blushed to the tips of his ears. Vanitas was looking at him strangely, so Roxas stuffed his remaining food into his mouth to hopefully deter him from asking what was up with him.

Amid all the scuffle, one person was suspiciously silent.

**Roxas:** where's hayner.

**Olette:** omg he used a period

**Roxas:** HAYNER

**Axel:** poor guy difn't even set his status to offline

**Xion:** it's okay, we'll protect you!

**Roxas:** squints

**Roxas:** hayner you better answer before xion says something truly incriminating

**Hayner:** bro

**Hayner:** what

**Roxas:** did you tell Vanitas where I live.

**Hayner:** I

**Pence:** i haven't gone outside today – have any of you?

A chorus of "no"s answered Pence's question, while Hayner yet again remained silent.

**Axel:** hwo'd be dumb enough to go oustside today

**Pence:** Hayner

**Olette:** hayner

**Xion:** sorry Hayner

**Hayner:** jjus tbecause i'm a jock

**Olette:** watch out, he's started cry-typing

**Pence:**

**Roxas:** confess

**Roxas:** Vanitas is almost done eating

**Axel:** woul'dnt want to keep him from his bf

**Roxas:** i am going to steal your kneecaps

**Axel:** it's short ofr bro friend

**Hayner:** alrigth but let me finish

**Hayner:** so i've been playing ring fit, right?

**Olette:** oh my god

**Hayner:** and ingame a guy said that running in the rain is good training

**Hayner:** so since it's raining today

**Roxas:** slip in a puddle and die

**Hayner:** ahdkjshdkjsahdkjash

**Hayner:** CRUEL DUDE

**Hayner:** anyway i ran intot his vanitas guy

**Hayner:** after we got over the initial murder vibes i sent him over to your place since he was lost

**Roxas:** again. WHY

**Hayner:** HE HAD THE SAME WEIRD PHONE AS YOU

**Hayner:** he was looking at it like a sad cat

**Roxas:** i can't believe you sometime

**Hayner:** love u too dude

Finally he had an answer. He locked his phone and, with a hand pressed to his forehead, used all his will power to not scream into his other hand. Hayner had told Vanitas where he lived. Because they had the same _phone_. Roxas was going to die one day, and then he would have to haunt his friend.

In the time it took to reach this point, Vanitas had indeed finished eating. They piled up the plates and cleared the table, putting the dirty dishes into the full sink. Roxas excused himself to the bathroom because his face still felt warm.

His untimely end almost came to pass when he opened the door, and found the two Shoegazers lurking directly behind it, almost giving him a heart attack. He briefly cursed himself for thinking about death just shortly beforehand while he pushed his heart back into its rightful place. They looked at him with pleading eyes, but he shut the door to the living room in their faces anyway.

At the bathroom sink he splashed his face with water until it cooled off, taking a couple extra seconds to bury his face in his hands, before going back. The Unversed continued to silently beg to be let into the living room like two very weird puppies, but he slipped past them again.

Vanitas was sitting on his bed when he came back, no longer wearing the wet hoodie. That was lying in a heap on the floor, Mandrake included. Instead, he was wearing the oversized grey sweater Roxas had given him earlier. It was Riku's originally, but he had forgotten it here one time and/or Roxas had stolen from him. He may not have a boyfriend, but he had a boyfriend sweater.

While he was glad that Vanitas had finally changed (though he could have just told him if he didn't want to change while Roxas was in the room with him), he was at a bit of a loss on what to do now. They had eaten, they were warm and dry while the rain continued to thunder outside. The ever-present tension in Vanitas's shoulders was no longer close to cracking him. There was no way that Roxas was going to kick him out and he didn't feel like sending Ventus a message just yet.

"Do you want to play Minecraft?" he asked, because somehow it always came back to Minecraft lately.

Vanitas narrowed his eyes, measuring him up, but the big sweater swallowed up most of his intimidation. "You still haven't asked me what I'm doing here," he accused.

"You didn't look like you wanted to talk about it," Roxas said with a shrug. Vanitas averted his gaze to the Mandrake. " _Do_ you want to talk about it?"

Vanitas curled his hands into the bedsheets, his posture going rigid. "I've had enough of them," he spat. He locked eyes full of venom with Roxas. "The notion of calling that place _home_ makes me laugh."

Roxas didn't have to ask who or where he was talking about. There was only the Land of Departure, the three united by Wayfinders. Vanitas's current home. Ventus had let on that things could go smoother but...

"Why's that?" Roxas asked, rising up to the threat Vanitas had offered him when he stood as a maelstrom at his doorstep.

Vanitas bristled in reply, snarling like Roxas should _know_. Roxas didn't, just like he had had no idea what Vanitas wanted him to say when he was accused of being Roxas' friend. He wasn't a mind reader. The silence stretched on, until it was clear that Vanitas wasn't going to say anything more.

Roxas' phone vibrated with another message from Ventus.

"You don't have to live there if you don't want to."

When Roxas had left the Tower, his friends – his _family_ – had taken him with them as a matter of course. Vanitas didn't have a family. To a point, everyone had expected him to follow Ventus, Aqua, and Terra to the Land of Departure. Their bond was brittle, forged through strife, but it was still a bond. His connection to Sora yet lay dormant, not for Sora's lack of trying, and his budding relationship to Roxas – it wasn't strong enough to consider living together, it seemed. Roxas had left the Tower before he could even think to offer.

"I used to live with Xion, Axel, and Isa, but I moved out," Roxas elaborated. "So did Xion, actually. Do you remember them?"

"Of course I remember Xion. Never question this again."

Roxas held up his hands. "Alright, I get it. Point is, you're not bound to that place. If you want to go, they can't stop you."

Vanitas _snorted_ at that, the expression so mirthless that something cold squeezed Roxas' chest. He pushed it down under hot indignation.

"If they try, I'll kick their asses."

"I'd like to see you try," Vanitas said.

Realistically, Roxas had no hope of beating all three of them at once, each one a Master in their own right. He'd need considerable time to recover after a serious bout with any of them. But he would do it. And right now, he was sure he would beat them into the ground if they went against him.

"I won't hesitate to fight if that's what it takes, Vanitas."

He could guess what was bothering Vanitas about his new home. It was hard to think of a reason it _wouldn't._ Just because the big bad, the one who pulled all their strings, was _gone,_ nothing changed about how his manipulations played out. They had all been pawns in the same fucked up game of chess for the fairytale clash of darkness against light. Vanitas had been born a weapon wielded against the ones he now had to live with. Roxas still didn't know how all of it ended up this way. Ventus must have somehow moved Vanitas to come with him. But no one had told Roxas the whole story of how Vanitas came to the Land of Departure in the end. With a lot of kicking and screaming, he was sure.

It would scare him otherwise.

"Moving out isn't a cure-all, but some distance could do you well," Roxas said. It wouldn't solve the conflict but they could _breathe_ and actually work on it. Ever since he had come back, Vanitas had been around Ventus, Terra, and Aqua in some capacity.

"Hopeful, aren't we?" Vanitas scoffed. "Have you forgotten what I am? I am the shadow cast by my Others. Where, tell me, would a shadow go?"

Roxas stepped closer to him, a hand twisted over his heart. "You're already here, aren't you? You could stay here."

"With you?"

"Just for a couple days. To see how it feels," Roxas amended. He fiddled with the hem of his shirt. "You don't have to move out. It helped me, but I don't want to force it on you. Just... you're welcome here if you want to try."

"Don't you have a big heart," Vanitas muttered. He no longer met Roxas' eye.

"There's always a way if you decide to look," Roxas said resolutely. "If you decide to accept help from your friends. I _want_ to be there for you."

Vanitas sighed, so heavily it was as though he tried to force out every inch of himself. He frowned down at his hands, looking so small in those clothes that weren't his, in that home that wasn't his. He didn't argue back, which Roxas wasn't sure what to make of. Maybe Vanitas was considering his words, or maybe he had already thrown them overboard. Roxas would build them up as often as it took to brave the sea.

Vanitas got up from the bed with some deal of difficulty. He grabbed his hoodie and hung it up by the other clothes on the clothesline. Roxas watched him attentively, his heart waiting to be released from its limbo.

"Now show me that Minecraft thing," Vanitas muttered.

Roxas grinned. That was all he needed for now. He ushered Vanitas over to his computer, depositing him on the nice desk chair, and went to setting up a world for them to explore.

While the game generated the new world, he explained the basics of the game to a doubtful Vanitas. He had to show him how to use the mouse and keyboard as well.

When the game started, the sun was shining brightly in the sky. And Roxas felt hope sprouting in his chest as they set out on a new journey.


End file.
